All
young movie fans have a favorite big-screen movie monster. For some, it's Frankenstein's
monster, for others, it's Dracula. For me, it was always Godzilla, the sometimes
terrifying, sometimes heroic fire-breathing lizard from Toho Co. Ltd. No matter
what time of day or night his movies came on television, I was up watching them.
With
Godzilla 2000, the rampaging reptile returns in his 23rd adventure and this is
only the fifth Godzilla film I've had the opportunity to see on the big screen
(excluding Roland Emmerich's dreaduful Americanized version.)
This
time out, Godzilla does battle with a strange creature from another world, out
to take over the planet Earth. In other words, it's pretty much the same formula
as all the other Godzilla films, but this time, some of the effects are a little
more high tech. And I mean a little.
Godzilla
2000 doesn't offer one of the strongest villains of the series. This menace form
space doesn't match the likes of the Smog Monster, Megalon, or the all powerful
Ghidrah--the three headed monster, but Godzilla's new adversary is hardly a wimp.
He flies around blowing up skyscrapers (ala Independence Day) and swatting fighter
planes from the sky. It should also be noted that the climactic fight sequence
in this film is a lot of fun.
People
will no doubt think I'm out of my mind for liking this film. True, it serves up
a lot of cheesy effects, a guy in a monster suit, and classically bad dubbing--but
this is all part of it's charm. And in the end, this Godzilla is far better than
the Toho effort Godzilla 1985. It should also be noted that Toho's beloved creature
has far more charm and character than Emmerich's CGI lizard could ever hope to
have. Godzilla really is king of all monsters.
